Jonah Crab
Life History
Jonah crab (Cancer borealis) are distributed in the waters of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean primarily from Newfoundland, Canada to Florida. The life cycle of Jonah crab is poorly described and what is known is largely compiled from a patchwork of studies. Female crab are believed to move nearshore during the late spring and summer and then return offshore in the fall and winter. The reasons for this inshore migration are unknown, but maturation, spawning and molting have all been postulated. Due to the lack of a widespread and well-developed aging method for crustaceans, the age and growth of Jonah crab is poorly described. It is theorized that the size of maturity for Jonah crab in U.S. waters is between 4” and 5” based off of studies on the Scotian Shelf and Virginia. Like other Cancer crab species, Jonah crab consume a variety of prey including snails, arthropods, algae, mussels and polychaetes.
Commercial & Recreational Fisheries
There are notable differences between the fisheries that operate in each of the four stock areas: inshore Gulf of Maine (IGOM), offshore GOM (OGOM), inshore Southern New England (ISNE) and offshore SNE (OSNE). The vast majority of coastwide landings have come from the OSNE stock, accounting for 70-85% of annual coastwide landings from 2010-2021. The IGOM stock has supported the second largest fishery, accounting for 9-24% of annual coastwide landings from 2010-2021. Both the ISNE and OGOM have supported smaller fisheries, never accounting for more than 5% of annual coastwide landings from 2010-2021.
The high proportion of participants contributing to Jonah crab landings indicates a directed fishery in the OSNE stock that targets Jonah crab, yet only a small number of participants account for the large magnitude of landings from this stock. The other three stocks have fisheries that are characteristic of bycatch fisheries that are targeting American lobster. These fisheries have low proportions of participants that land Jonah crabs from pot/trap gears. In the case of the IGOM stock, there is a relatively high number of participants targeting lobsters and not landing Jonah crabs. This represents considerable capacity for growth in a Jonah crab fishery if these participants were to
switch to targeting Jonah crab.
Landings have shown different trends across stocks, but the landings from OSNE declined steadily from the time series high in 2018 (17.6 million pounds) in the last three years of the time series (2019-2021). This trend is believed to be influenced by factors other than available abundance but should continue to be monitored closely. There was insufficient information to describe fishing mortality or exploitation with confidence and these population parameters remain major uncertainties.
The magnitude of recreational landings is unknown, but is expected to be minimal.
Stock Status
The 2023 Jonah Crab Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report, released in October 2023, indicates the range-wide population of Jonah crab remains above historic lows of the 1980s and 1990s. However, evidence of declining catch per unit effort (CPUE) in the fishery presents substantial concern and uncertainty for the status of the stock.
Based on life history and fishery characteristics, the assessment divided the population into four stocks: offshore Gulf of Maine (OGOM), inshore GOM (IGOM); offshore Southern New England (OSNE) and inshore SNE (ISNE). According to the stock indicators, IGOM, OGOM, and OSNE recruit, exploitable, and spawning abundance conditions from 2019-2021 were neutral or positive relative to historical periods. Indicators generally agree across these stocks that abundance has not been depleted compared to the historic low abundance observed in the 1980s and 1990s. There are no reliable abundance indicators for the ISNE stock so no determination about the condition of this stock’s abundance could be made at this time. Young-of-the-year settlement indicators generally show neutral conditions and do not indicate that recruitment in the GOM stocks will decline to historical lows in the near future. Settlement conditions are unknown for SNE stocks.
According to the Peer Review Panel, “Despite the limited availability of current data, there is considerable urgency for the assessment due to a very steep, three-year, decline in landings. Commercial landings have declined 51% in three years, after an unprecedented 30-fold rise in landings. Although the recent decline is not well-detected in fishery-independent stock indicators, there is some evidence of declining CPUE in the fishery, creating substantial concern and uncertainty for the status of the stock. Given the mixed signals, the status of the Jonah crab stock is highly uncertain.
Current conditions closely resemble early stages of the collapse of the Canada Jonah crab fishery in the early 2000s. In the first three years of the crash, Canada landings dropped 58%. Within five years, landings fell 97%, and stock biomass could no longer support a fishery. Fishery-independent trawl indicators had not fully captured the signals of a rapidly declining stock. However, declining fishery CPUE was observable preceding and during the landings crash.
Given the high level of uncertainty in the status of the Jonah crab stock, the Panel strongly recommends close monitoring of annual stock indicators in the next few years. Annual indicators can determine whether sharply declining recent landings are signaling the start of a ‘bust’ phase of a boom-and-bust arc, or are due to fishery and market-related factors uncoupled with Jonah crab abundance.”
In response to the assessment findings and peer review panel recommendations, the American Lobster Management Board accepted the Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Report for management use. The Board also tasked the Technical Committee with recommending possible measures or actions to address the concerns about stock status and recent fishery trends. In response to this request, the Technical Committee recommended additional indicators, including fishery-dependent CPUE from Rhode Island, fishery-dependent effort from Massachusetts, and price per pound data for landings of Jonah crab and other crustacean species should be reviewed regularly to monitor the Jonah crab stocks and fishery. The Committee did not believe management action to address the stock condition is necessary at this time, but recommendeded indicator data for the offshore Southern New England stock, where the majority of the fishery occurs, be updated annually, while data for the other three stock areas should be updated every five years. It also recommended engaging the Advisory Panel annually to provide information on the market of the fishery. The Board supported the Technical Committee's recommendations.
Atlantic Coastal Management
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Jonah crab is managed under the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Jonah Crab (2015) and its two addenda. The FMP’s goal is to promote conservation, reduce the possibility of recruitment failure, and allow full utilization of the resource by the industry. The plan lays out specific management measures in the commercial fishery, including a 4.75” minimum size with zero tolerance and a prohibition on the retention of egg-bearing females. In the recreational fishery, the FMP sets a possession limit of 50 whole crabs per person per day. Due to the lack of data on the Jonah crab fishery, the FMP implements fishery-dependent data collection.
Addendum I (May 2016), establishes a bycatch limit of 1,000 crabs per trip for non‐trap gear (e.g., otter trawls, gillnets) and non‐lobster trap gear (e.g., fish, crab, and whelk pots). In doing so, the Addendum caps incidental landings of Jonah crab across all non‐directed gear types with a uniform bycatch allowance.
Addendum II (February 2017) establishes a coastwide standard for claw harvest to respond to concerns regarding the equity of the claw provision established in the FMP. Specifically, the Addendum allows Jonah crab fishermen to detach and harvest claws at sea, with a required minimum claw length of 2.75” if the volume of claws landed is greater than five gallons. Claw landings less than five gallons do not have to meet the minimum claw length standard. Fishermen may also harvest whole crabs which meet the 4.75” minimum carapace width. Addendum II also establishes a definition of bycatch based on a percent composition of catch in order to minimize the expansion of a small-scale fishery under the bycatch allowance. Through Addendum II, fishermen harvesting under the bycatch limit must have another species on board of greater weight than landed Jonah crabs.
In February 2018, the Board approved Addendum III to the FMP. The Addendum addresses concerns regarding deficits in existing reporting requirements by expanding the mandatory harvester reporting data elements, improving the spatial resolution of harvester data, establishing a 5-year timeline for implementation of 100% harvester reporting, and prioritizing the development of electronic harvester reporting. In addition, the Addendum improve biological sampling requirements by establishing a baseline of ten sampling trips per year in the American lobster/Jonah crab fishery, and encourages states with more than 10% of coastwide landings in either the lobster or Jonah crab fisheries to conduct additional sampling trips.
In March 2022, the Board approved Addendum IV, which expands on the Addendum III reporting improvements by establishing electronic tracking requirements for federally-permitted vessels in the American lobster and Jonah crab fisheries. Specifically, electronic tracking devices will be required for vessels with commercial trap gear area permits for Lobster Conservation Management Areas (LCMAs) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and Outer Cape Cod to collect high resolution spatial and temporal effort data. Through this action the Board seeks to enhance data for the stock assessment, identify areas where fishing effort may overlap with endangered North Atlantic right whales, and document the footprint of the fishery to help reduce spatial conflicts with other ocean uses like wind energy development and aquaculture. For more information see the FAQ and requirements document.
Management Plans & FMP Reviews
- Jonah Crab Addendum IV: Electronic Vessel Tracking for Federal Permit Holders (March 2022)
- Jonah Crab Addendum III (February 2018)
- Jonah Crab Addendum II: Coastwide Standard for Claw Landings and Bycatch Definition (January 2017)
- Addendum I: Incidental Bycatch Limits for Non-Trap Gear and Non-Lobster Traps (May 2016)
- Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Jonah Crab (August 2015)
Meeting Summaries & Reports
Press Releases
- Jonah Crab Benchmark Stock Assessment and Peer Review Finds Population Abundance Remains Above Historic Lows but Needs to be Closely Monitored (October 2023)
- Jonah Crab Benchmark Stock Assessment Workshop Scheduled for April 18-20 in New Bedford, MA (March 2023)
- ASMFC Releases Request for Applications for Type Approval for American Lobster and Jonah Crab Electronic Vessel Tracking Devices (September 2022)
- ASMFC American Lobster Board Approves Use of Electronic Trackers for Federally-permitted American Lobster & Jonah Crab Vessels (April 2022)
- ASMFC Begins Preparations for Jonah Crab Benchmark Stock Assessment (March 2022)
- ASMFC American Lobster Board Releases American Lobster Draft Addendum XXIX/Jonah Crab Draft Addendum IV for Public Comment (December 2021)
- ASMFC to Convene Jonah Crab Data Workshop (September 2020)
- States Schedule Hearings on Draft Addenda XXVI & III to the American Lobster and Jonah Crab FMPs (November 2017)
- ASMFC American Lobster Board Approves Draft Addenda XXVI & III to the American Lobster and Jonah Crab FMPs for Public Comment (October 2017)
- ASMFC American Lobster Board Approves Jonah Crab Addendum II (February 2017)
- States Schedule Hearings on Jonah Crab Draft Addendum II (November 2016)
- ASMFC American Lobster Board Approves Jonah Crab Draft Addendum II for Public Comment (October 2016)
- ASMFC American Lobster Board Approves Jonah Crab Addendum I & Initiates Addendum to Establish a Coastwide Standard for Claw Landings (May 2016)
- States Schedule Hearings on Jonah Crab Draft Addendum I (February 2016)
- ASMFC American Lobster Board Approves Jonah Crab Draft Addendum I for Public Comment (February 2016)
- ASMFC American Lobster Board Initiates Addendum to Jonah Crab FMP (November 2015)
- ASMFC Approves Jonah Crab Interstate Fishery Management Plan (August 2015)
- ASMFC American Lobster Board Releases Draft Jonah Crab FMP for Public Comment: States Schedule Hearings (May 2015)
- ASMFC American Lobster Board Approves Habitat Addendum and Initiates Development of Management Plan for Cancer Crabs (August 2014)